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Notable Children’s Books of 2011

BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY. By Ruta Sepetys. (Philomel, $17.99.) This haunting novel exposes the horrors of Stalin from the perspective of a 15-year-old Lithuanian girl, evacuated to a camp in Siberia. A “superlative first novel,” Linda Sue Park wrote in the Book Review.

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE. By Laini Taylor. (Little, Brown, $18.99.) “A breath-catching romantic fantasy about destiny, hope and the search for one’s true self,” according to our reviewer, Chelsey Philpot, this high-speed adventure involves love between angel and demon.

LEVEL UP. By Gene Luen Yang. Illustrated by Thien Pham. (First Second, $15.99.) Smart, hilarious and affecting, this graphic novel tells the story of an aspiring gastroenterologist and video game enthusiast struggling between realizing his father’s dreams and understanding his own ambitions.

A MONSTER CALLS By Patrick Ness. Illustrated by Jim Kay. (Candlewick, $16.99.) Based on an idea from the late Siobhan Dowd, this novel tackles the subject of a young boy dealing with his mother’s death. “Powerful medicine,” our reviewer wrote, and “a potent piece of art.”

DRAWING FROM MEMORY. Written and illustrated by Allen Say. (Scholastic, $17.99.) Part memoir, part graphic novel, this account from the Caldecott medalist describes how his coming of age in Japan paved his path to children’s literature.

EVERY THING ON IT .By Shel Silverstein. (HarperCollins, $19.99.) On par with “A Light in the Attic,” this posthumous collection of 140 poems makes you miss Silverstein and his seemingly effortless but incomparably funny, touching verse all the more.

THE FINGERTIPS OF DUNCAN DORFMAN. By Meg Wolitzer. (Dutton, $16.99.) A novel about the real world of championship Scrabble, with a fantastical twist. Our reviewer, Stefan Fatsis, called it an “empathetic and sometimes farcical exploration of the emotionally confusing lives of preadolescent boys and girls.”

HEART AND SOUL. Written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. (Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins, $19.99.) “A grand and awe-inspiring survey of the black experience in America,” Walter Dean Myers wrote in the Book Review. This is history for children on both an epic and human scale.

OKAY FOR NOW. By Gary D. Schmidt. (Clarion, $16.99.) The lead from “The Wednesday Wars” returns in this tragicomic story about a struggling middle grader. Our reviewer, Richard Peck, read this book “about the healing power of art and about a boy’s intellectual awakening” through “misting eyes.”

QUEEN OF THE FALLS. Written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg. (Houghton Mifflin, $18.99.) The bittersweet true story of a 62-year-old teacher who became the first person to barrel over Niagara Falls. Van Allsburg resists romanticizing the story and includes its melancholic edges, illustrated in exquisitely detailed drawings.

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Credit
R.O. Blechman

SECRETS AT SEA. By Richard Peck. Illustrated by Kelly Murphy. (Dial, $16.99.) This mouse adventure follows four siblings as they cruise to England, accompanying their husband-hunting human counterparts. “Rife with snappy asides and clever but never heavy-­handed,” our reviewer wrote.

SERIOUSLY, NORMAN! Written and illustrated by Chris Raschka. (Michael di Capua/Scholastic, $17.95.) This humorous first novel by picture book author Raschka describes life from the perspective of a less than stellar student. “Reading it is a visual, loopy, absurdist experience,” Meg Wolitzer, our reviewer, said.

WONDERSTRUCK. Written and illustrated by Brian Selznick. (Scholastic, $29.99.) Telling the story of a boy who searches for his father in New York and the tale of a deaf girl in 1920s Hoboken, Selznick weaves the two into a seamless story that “teaches a respect for the past and for the power of memory to make minds,” Adam Gopnik wrote in these pages.

Picture Books

BLACKOUT. Written and illustrated by John Rocco. (Disney/Hyperion, $16.99.) There’s no place like New York in a blackout, at least as it’s depicted in this gorgeously dreamy landscape of deep midnight blues. The city comes alive after dark at the same time a family becomes aware of the comforts of home in a story about how a community and a family come together when the lights go out.

GOODNIGHT, GOODNIGHT, CONSTRUCTION SITE. By Sherri Duskey Rinker. Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. (Chronicle, $16.99.) A debut author and an accomplished illustrator team up in a meeting of bedtime tale and construction book. This lullaby in rhyming couplets will also be loved by girls, with its images of vehicles clasping stars and cradling teddy bears.

I WANT MY HAT BACK. Written and illustrated by Jon Klassen. (Candlewick, $15.99.) A bear has lost his hat. A rabbit has stolen it. The bear finds out. From this premise, Klassen has created an inventive book that will have children scratching their heads and then laughing with glee once they “get it.” Both story and bear have bite.

I MUST HAVE BOBO! By Eileen Rosenthal. Illustrated by Marc Rosenthal. (Atheneum, $14.99.) A melodramatic boy, Willy, and a cat, Earl, both lay claim to a sock monkey. With adorable illustrations and sharp but spare text.

ME ... JANE. Written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell. (Little, Brown, $15.99.) Jane Goodall, the subject of this pictorial biography, and Patrick McDonnell, author and illustrator, are splendidly matched. Careful scenes captured in watercolors show how Goodall’s childhood shaped her adult life.

MEADOWLANDS: A Wetlands Survival Story. Written and illustrated by Thomas F. Yezerski. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $17.99.) Meticulously researched and expertly drawn, “Meadowlands” is impassioned without being preachy. A fine introduction to our role in environmental devastation and ­protection.

MY NAME IS ELIZABETH! By Annika Dunklee. Illustrated by Matthew Forsythe. (Kids Can Press, $14.95.) The indignity and aggravation of the mispronounced and mistakenly abbreviated name! Elizabeth, a feisty and outspoken girl, addresses those who misaddress her in this artfully drawn tale.

OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW. By Kate Messner. Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal. (Chronicle, $16.99.) A girl and her father are skiing when a red squirrel darts below the snow. Quiet, gentle and incomparably lovely, this book reveals a wintertime world under the surface.

POMELO BEGINS TO GROW. By Ramona Bodescu. Illustrated by Benjamin Chaud. Translated by Claudia Bedrick. (Enchanted Lion, $16.95.) A baby elephant’s growth spurt also spurs worries. “Funny, smart and idiosyncratic, graceful and intuitive in a way that feels as much dreamed as written,” our reviewer, Bruce Handy, said.

SAMANTHA ON A ROLL. By Linda Ashman. Illustrated by Christine Davenier. (Margaret Ferguson Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.99.) A girl, a pair of new roller skates, a preoccupied parent. This ode to the glorious adventures — if also perils — of benign neglect pairs Ashman’s perfectly rhymed text with Davenier’s animated, humorous ­drawings.